Travis Parrott of Portland teams with Carly Gullickson to win U.S. Open championship

Elise Amendola/The Associate PressTravis Parrott and Carly Gullickson defeated the defending champions Thursday and won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title.

NEW YORK -- Travis Parrott had never met Carly Gullickson until they signed their names on the entry list for the U.S. Open.

Even getting to that point required a wild-card invitation to the last Grand Slam tennis event of the year.

Then, after surviving two match points in the first round and having to face three more seeded teams, the last-minute combination of Parrott, a Portland native, and Gullickson, the daughter of a former major-league pitcher, won the mixed doubles championship Thursday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In the biggest match of their careers, both players produced some of their best tennis. They hit 31 winners compared with four unforced errors and beat the second-seeded and defending champion team of Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Leander Paes of India, 6-2, 6-4.

"If you had told me this would happen at the beginning of the tournament, I wouldn't have believed you," Parrott said. "This is so unexpected. We didn't even know who we were playing for the second round. We really were just taking this one match at a time."

A former University of Portland standout, Parrott, 29, has three career doubles titles.

"Carly wasn't even sure if she was going to play in the mixed, and I was supposed to play with Abigail Spears," Parrott said, recalling how his Open odyssey began. "She pulled out at the last minute but said that Carly would probably be interested. I texted her two days before the sign-up deadline, and I guess the rest is history."

In the first round, Parrott and Gullickson defeated the sixth seeds, Nadia Petrova and Max Mirnyi 6-2, 2-6, 11-9.

"The first round was really helpful for us," Gullickson, 22, said. "I've never played mixed doubles in a Grand Slam, and had never seen serves or volleys coming at me that hard before, so getting that first win under our belt gave us the confidence to keep going."

Parrott was raised in the Forest Heights area of Northwest Portland, grew up playing in the area and has chosen to remain in Portland over traditional tennis hotbeds such as California or Florida. He has remained with the same coach, current University of Portland coach Aaron Gross, for more than 15 years, and trains at the same Portland facilities he grew up playing on.

"My dad (Brian Parrott) has been really involved with the tennis community in Portland," Parrott said. "He helped coordinate a few of the Davis Cup ties, including the final in Portland last year, and we grew up with a tennis court right in our backyard, so it's always something I've been around. Even though there are only a couple of guys to hit with in the area, my coach has been with me the whole time, and it's been great to be able to keep working out with him."

Parrott, who was recently married, said his wife, Kristin, came to New York at the last minute to support him in the final.

"She left after my first-round mixed doubles match, and it was a bit of a joke between us," Parrott said, smiling. "She told me she would come back if we made the final."

Gullickson is the daughter of Bill Gullickson, who led the American League with 20 wins for the Detroit Tigers in 1991.

Playing in swirling winds that picked up considerably as the match progressed, Parrott and Gullickson exploited Black's serve, breaking her in all four of her service games.

With Black spinning in serves as slow as 60 mph, Parrott and Gullickson stood well inside the baseline for their returns and took a 2-1 lead after breaking Black in her first service game. A forehand winner off Black's serve in her next service game took Parrott and Gullickson to a 5-2 lead. Four points later, a volley winner by Parrott clinched the first set.

"We had never played inside that stadium before, but we went in with a positive approach," Parrott said. "Instead of hoping we don't make fools of ourselves, we wanted to enjoy the experience because we didn't know if we would ever get back there again."

The second set was largely identical to the first one. A passing shot by Parrott at break point on Black's serve in the second set gave he and Gullickson a 2-1 lead, and a volley error by Black in her next service game gave them a 5-2 lead.

Gullickson held match point on her serve, but a backhand winner by Paes, followed by an easy service hold for the Indian, forced Parrott to serve out the match. On the first match point of his service, a volley winner by Gullickson won the title.

With Parrott and Gullickson planning to play together in all four Grand Slam events next year, a few more last-minute flights might be in store for Parrott and his family.